Johanna G. Masche-No - Research

Family and Developmental Psychology

How does the parent-child relationship develop through the adolescent years and into young adulthood? How do parents and adolescents experience changes, in how far do they predict and even actively pursue them? And how do these strivings relate to teens' internalizing problems such as depressive symptoms? More specifically, what are the reciprocal influences between parental behaviors and adolescent depression and delinquency, and how can these influences be explained by parents' and adolescents' feelings, goals, and strategies to achieve their goals? These are questions that Dr. Masche-No has tried to answer, using data from own projects at Braunschweig and Darmstadt (both Germany), as a collaborator in projects at Jena (Germany) and Örebro (Sweden), and recently in a longitudinal study conducted in Kristianstad (Sweden).

Methods Development in Developmental Psychology

Whenever the respective research questions have required this, Dr. Masche-No has contributed to statistical analyses methods. An example are advancements in the analyses of age, cohort, and time effects. She has also worked at new tests for the decision between nested structural equation models. Another area of interest is causal modeling in developmental psychology.

Personality Psychology

Dr. Masche-No has questioned the stability of personality traits. A recent study, together with T. Gerhard Eriksson and Anna M. Dåderman, showed high levels of certain indicators of conscientiousness in Swedish prisoners, which might be an adaptation to the restricted environment. Besides her regular research activities, Dr. Masche-No has studied differences between various styles of religious faith. She has supervised a couple of theses on religious fundamentalism and its correlates.

Which children go by bicycle?

Together with Camilla Siotis, Dr. Masche-No has contributed to the EU-sponsored project "Oresund as a bicycle region." Riding the bicycle is not only friendly to the environment, it does also provide children with opportunities to reach destinations without their parents' help. This project which was conducted in 2010 and 2011 has identified factors associated with children's bicycle-use, most importantly, parents as role models. These results can be used by municipalities and e.g., the Swedish Transport Administration for public campaigns.